MLS Sales - Last 360 days Sullivan County
This Farmhouse, Famous Farmhouse 12,
was built around 2008 or so, and has resold 4 times, to very different families each time. Quintessential Quaker style with short roof overhangs and a deck off the MBR. We built and sold this home back in 2008 for $450k. Just sold for $995,000.
I've said for years, and the metrics don't lie, our year to year, decade to decade contribution to the pocketbooks of a wide range of the upstate working community is immense. Our local sales tax contribution is eye-popping; I'd say pushing $600k a year. Real estate transfer taxes, mortgage taxes, etc... - it adds up to large numbers. And it's not just one year - it's year after year. There may be bigger upstate one off projects, but if you measure the totality of what I've created out of thin air over 2 decades, I think we would outshine even the largest upstate investments - just because we just keep at it. These are needle-moving numbers, creating a consumer market for restaurants, hotels, airbnb's farmer's markets and dozens of others that never existed to a degree that small business in the area could be much more than expensive and time-consuming hobbies.
I had some fun doing a MLS search in Sullivan County for the homes of ours that sold last year - those new ones driven by us and the incredibly vibrant resale ecosystem where homeowners and realtors both pocket serious bang. Country House Realty and its lead agent Erik just celebrated most single family sales and highest sales volume agent - and that is made possible in part to the turnover of our good-looking and highly sought after resales, and I also used Erik to sell some of my new stuff, and he also brought some buyers to us on his own. And what's always been true, selling our homes builds some serious cred in the marketplace, and that leads to other listings, and that leads to be considered quite the mover and shaker of good looking high quality inventory.
But truth be told Erik made the first move by blowing doors off some of resales just at the start of the pandemic, and that caught a lot of peoples eye, including mine.
Listed here are just Sullivan County, the county where we made our start in 2001. Doesn't include Ulster or Dutchess, which actually have more sales than these at higher prices.
On 18 acres, this Ranch sold to a couple who already owned one of micro-cottages in Eldred but wanted to upgrade. Famous Ranch 55.
A house I designed, built and finished without a buyer lined up, which resulted in a final inspiring product. This was our last house for The Crest, phase 1. On 10 acres. Famous Barn 52.
This Ranch on 10 acres was another one behind Lander's River Tours off of 97, an area we have been mining for solid 5-10 acres of wooded parcels since 2010. Famous Ranch 62.
Clocking in at around 2000 sq ft, these Mid-Sized Ranches fit the bill for families, couples and singles. Famous Ranch 63.
This good looking classic farmhouse in Cochecton was a larger version of our very first home, inspired by a farmhouse in Fremont NY that was falling down then and still is managing to continue to fall down. Great lines. Famous Farmhouse 60
Classic 1500 sq ft mid-sized barn on a large pond in Bethel, in a development I bought from the same guys who sold me The Crest in Fremont. We built out a project that had more or less seen zero sales in 15 years till we came in a blew the barn doors off by selling out the whole thing - Famous Barn 31.
Built and sold around 2018 for $350k. Just sold for $655,000.
Believe it or not, in 2004 I found a ramshackle one story 800 sq ft house and turned it into this on Fox Mountain Road in Livingston Manor. I would have been better just renovating it into a small cottage ranch but that was before I was the first one to realize the market potential for small homes in the area.
Renovated and sold for $250k. Just sold for $640,000.
An early Cottage that checked all the boxes. Built into the international real estate collapse, the retreat into small homes worked fine for us - a vertically integrated low cost serious design/build firm. Famous Cottage 20.
We built and sold this home for $240k in 2008ish. Just sold $70k above asking for $615,000.
Famous Ranch 58 at the Crest, a 28 lot project where I combined a lot of lots to reduce the density to 17 max.
Sold in the $600's, Chapin Estate is where value goes to die. Famous Chapin Farmhouse.
Realtors love these Catskill Farms listings. They always sell, always embraced by the marketplace, always top dollar. And a lot of what drives the value is the business idea from the very very beginning in 2001 - good looking, durable homes on a private piece of wooded land.
As a history buff, if someone would ever do a deep dive into the historical record in a couple hundred years - they would be wondering about this Catskill Farms who shows up so often deed transfers and municipal records in the 2000-2030 era. Picture super slow fade out - ken burns style - of yellowed deed in the county courthouse. Big legacy.